Precast wall section and method of making walls from same

ABSTRACT

The present invention is a wall section for use in constructing the walls of clean rooms. The wall section consists of a precast reinforced concrete pillar having a vertical portion and a flange portion. The vertical portion has a top end, a bottom end, and a vertical face. The flange portion projects perpendicularly away from the vertical face immediately adjacent the bottom end. The flange also has a horizontal face. The pillar has a curved concave face where the horizontal face of the flange portion joins the vertical face of the vertical portion. The vertical section of the pillar is reinforced by reinforcing bars which extend through the bottom end and project horizontally below and beyond the flange.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to prefabricated wall constructions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The manufacture of various food products usually occurs in what arereferred to as clean rooms. These rooms are generally furnished withcorrosion resistant furniture and equipment where the food products areactually prepared. As the name implies, these clean rooms, and theequipment contained therein, are maintained at a high level ofcleanliness in order to minimize the possibility of food contamination.At the end of each work day, workers clean down the equipment, walls andfloor of the clean room using high pressure washers. While washing withhigh pressure washers is generally effective, even the most effectivehigh pressure washer is not always capable of removing all traces ofdebris from tight comers of the room, particularly where the floor meetsthe walls. Therefore, there is always the possibility that the room willnot be totally sanitized even after the room has been thoroughly washedwith high pressure washers.

In order to maximize the ease of sanitation, clean rooms are now beingconstructed without tight comers where the walls and floor meet. Thewalls and floor of these rooms are generally made from concrete and havea smooth curved junction between the walls and floor. These smoothcurved junctions permit water to flow easily through the comers in orderto wash away any accumulated debris. However, these improved clean roomshave one major drawback, they tend to be expensive to construct.Generally speaking, these rooms are formed from a concrete floors withwalls made of insulating pre-finished panels. This construction leaves asharp angle where the wall meets the floor. A gentle curve is formed atthe junction of the wall and floor by applying a layer of concrete atthe wall/floor junction and molding the concrete to form the curvedjunction. As can be imagined, the curved junction formed is not alwaysuniform. Furthermore, the concrete curved junctions have a tendency todeteriorate over time, leaving a fractured junction, which is ideal forretaining debris. Finally, the step of forming the junction is both timeconsuming and expensive. An improved wall construction technique istherefore required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a wallsection for forming a wall, said wall section comprising a precastreinforced concrete pillar having a vertical portion and a flangeportion. The vertical portion has a top end, a bottom end, and avertical face, the flange portion projecting perpendicularly away fromthe vertical face immediately adjacent the bottom end. The flangeportion also has a horizontal face. A curved concave face is formed onthe pillar where the horizontal face of the flange portion joins thevertical face of the vertical portion. The vertical section isreinforced by reinforcing bars which extend through the bottom end andprojecting horizontally below and beyond the flange.

There is also provided an improved method of constructing a wallincluding the steps of providing a plurality of precast reinforcedconcrete pillars each pillar having a vertical portion and a flangeportion, the vertical portion having a top end, a bottom end, and avertical face, the flange portion projecting perpendicularly away fromthe vertical face immediately adjacent the bottom end. The flange has asubstantially flat bottom and a horizontal face and the pillar has acurved concave face where the horizontal face of the flange portionjoins the vertical face of the vertical portion. A substrate is providedupon which the concrete pillars are placed with the bottom of theflanges resting on the substrate. The floor is formed by pouringconcrete over the substrate to a level flush with the horizontal flatface of the flange portions, and finally, the poured concrete is left tocure.

With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparentto those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as thisspecification proceeds, the invention is herein described by referenceto the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which includes adescription of the preferred typical embodiment of the principles of thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. is a perspective view of a wall section made in accordance withthe present invention.

FIG. 2. is a cross sectional view of a wall and floor made in accordancewith the method of the present invention.

FIG. 3. is a top view of a wall section made in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 4. is a side view of a wall section made in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 5. is a cross sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6. is a cross sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7. is a cross sectional view of an alternate embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8. is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring firstly to FIG. 1, the present invention is a precast wallsection, shown generally as item 10 which consists of an elongatedpillar 12 having opposite ends 14 and 16, vertical portion 15 and flangeportions 22 and 23. Vertical portion 15 has top portion 18, bottomportion 20, and opposite vertical faces 24 and 25. Flange portions 22and 23 have horizontal faces 26 and 27, respectively. Curved faces 28and 29 are formed on pillar 12 at the junction of flat faces 24 and 26and at the junction of flat faces 25 and 27, respectively. Pillar 12 isprecast from concrete and is reinforced by a plurality of verticalreinforcing bars 30. Reinforcing bars 30 each have a vertical portion 32which is substantially contained in pillar 12 and a horizontal portion36 which extends perpendicularly away from the pillar below the flangeportions. A portion 34 of reinforcing bars 30 extend below pillar 12.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6, epoxy coated reinforcing bars 30are oriented such that horizontal portions 36 of approximately half ofthe bars project to one side of the pillar while the other half projectto the other side of the pillar. Horizontal reinforcing bar 38 isprovided in pillar 12 and extends between ends 14 and 16. Horizontalbars 30 and 38 provide structural strength to the pillar. Mountingelements 40 are provided at the corners of flanges 22 and 23 towardsends 14 and 16. Each mounting element 40 consists of a threaded nut 44and a threaded tap 46. Threaded nut 44 is countersunk into the bottom ofthe flange portion and threaded tap 46 is mounted within the flange suchthat the treaded tap is coaxially aligned with the nut. Threaded tap 46and threaded nut 44 form a single mounting unit 40 permitting a threadedbolt (see FIG. 2) to be inserted and retained in mounting unit. Topportion 15 of pillar 12 has a mounting unit 42 consisting of a threadedtap 46 which is securely retained in the pillar. Mounting unit 42permits an anchor bolt (not shown) to be mounted to the mounting unit,permitting an attachment means to lift the entire pillar with a crane(not shown). End 14 may be provided with female connector element 33which is dimensioned and configured to bind to male connector element 35of an adjacent pillar 12. Male connector element 35 is preferably alength of reinforcing bar cast into the pillar. Male/female connectorelements 33 and 35 make it easier to mount a series of pillars in a rowto form a wall. Male/female connector elements 33 and 35 also help tostrengthen the finished wall.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the method of the present invention shall nowbe discussed. To form a wall, a substrate 56 is first provided.Substrate 56 may be crushed stone, gravel, sand or some other suitablesubstrate for supporting a concrete floor. Pillar 12 is then set on topof substrate 56. If the height of pillar 12 must be adjusted, anchorbolts 50 may be mounted to mounting units 40. Anchor bolts 50 consist ofa threaded rod 52 rigidly mounted on top of feet 54. By threading rod 52into mounting units 40 the height at which the pillar sits abovesubstrate 56 can be adjusted. This makes plumbing the pillar so that thepillar sits vertically on the substrate a simple procedure. When thepillar is properly set on the substrate, a layer of concrete 58 ispoured over the substrate. The amount of concrete poured is adjustedsuch that the top surface 60 of the concrete is flush with thehorizontal surface 26 of flange 22. Horizontal portions 36 of thereinforcing bars anchor pillar 12 to the poured concrete forming thefloor. The concrete is left to cure. When the concrete has hardened andcured, a wall/floor junction is thereby formed with a smooth continuouscurved face 28 joining floor surface 60 to vertical face 24. The heightof the wall can be increased by attaching upper wall segment 62 to thetop 18 of pillar 12.

The present invention has numerous advantages. Firstly, since thepillars are precast, the curves on the pillar may be made hard anddurable, thereby lengthening the life of the finished wall. Furthermore,since the pillars are preformed, assembling the wall is accomplishedrelatively quickly. Finally, since the pillar is anchored to theconcrete floor by reinforcing bars, the overall wall structure is verystrong and durable.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the wall segments may be formed as corner unitsor as side units where the curved concave surface is present on only oneside. Therefore, nearly any type of room can be constructed simply byusing a variety of different precast units. Each of these units willhave reinforcing steel bars 100, curved concave surface 102, flangeportion 106, vertical portion 108, and mounting units 104 as discussedin the previous example.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a wall segment made in accordance with thepresent invention shown generally as item 200 may also take the form ofa precast pillar 202. Precast pillar 202 is made of plastic foam panels204 and 206 which are held together by a plurality of ties 208. Thepillar is given additional strength by a layer of concrete 210 which ispoured in between foam panels 204 and 206. Pillar 202 has reinforcingbars 212 have vertical faces 214 and 216, curved concave faces 218 and220 and horizontal flat faces 222 and 224 as in the previous embodiment.Other than the construction of pillar 212 from a combination of plasticfoam and concrete, pillar 212 is identical to the embodiment shown inFIG. 1.

A specific embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed;however, several variations of the disclosed embodiment could beenvisioned as within the scope of this invention. It is to be understoodthat the present invention is not limited to the embodiments describedabove, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of thefollowing claims.

1. A wall section for forming a wall, said wall section comprising: a) aprecast reinforced concrete pillar having a vertical portion and abottom portion, the vertical portion having a top end, a bottom end, anda vertical face, the flange portion projecting perpendicularly away fromthe vertical face immediately adjacent the bottom end, the flange havinga horizontal face; b) the pillar having a curved concave face where thehorizontal face of the flange portion joins the vertical face of thevertical portion, c) the vertical section being reinforced byreinforcing bars, d) the reinforcing bars extending through the bottomend and projecting horizontally below and beyond the flange.
 2. Theprecast wall section defined in claim 1 wherein the flange has asubstantially flat bottom and wherein the pillar has a plurality ofnuts, each nut being countersunk into the fat bottom.
 3. The precastwall section defined in claim 1 wherein the vertical portion of thepillar has opposite sides, each side having a flat vertical face andwherein two projecting flanges extend from the bottom of the verticalportion, one flange extending perpendicularly from each of the oppositesides, each flange having a flat horizontal surface, the pillar having acurved concave face on each side of the vertical portion, each curvedconcave face joining the flat horizontal face of the flange portion withthe corresponding flat vertical face.
 4. The precast wall sectiondefined in claim 1 further comprising a plurality of mounting elementsmounted to the bottom of the pillar.
 5. The precast wall section definedin claim 4 wherein the mounting elements each comprise a tap retained inthe pillar.
 6. The precast wall section defined in claim 5 wherein thepillar further comprises a mounting element mounted to the top of thepillar.
 7. A method of constructing a wall comprising the steps of: a)providing a plurality of precast reinforced concrete pillars each havinga vertical portion and a bottom portion, the vertical portion having atop end, a bottom end, and a vertical face, the flange portionprojecting perpendicularly away from the vertical face immediatelyadjacent the bottom end, the flange having a substantially flat bottomand a horizontal face, the pillar having a curved concave face where thehorizontal face of the flange portion joins the vertical face of thevertical portion, the vertical section being reinforced by reinforcingbars; b) providing a substrate upon which the concrete pillars areplaced with the bottom of the flanges resting on the substrate, c)pouring concrete over the substrate to a level flush with the horizontalflat face of the flange portion, d) letting the poured concrete cure. 8.The method of constructing a wall as defined in claim 7 furthercomprising the step of mounting a top wall segment to the top end of thevertical portions of the pillars after the concrete has cured.
 9. Themethod of constructing a wall as defined in claim 7 wherein thereinforcing bars have a horizontal section extending perpendicularlyaway from the vertical portion of the pillar below the flange.
 10. Themethod of constructing a wall as defined in claim 7 wherein the pillarrests on a plurality of adjustable anchor bolts mounted to the bottom ofthe pillar, said mounting bolts each having a foot, said feet resting ontop of the substrate, and further including the step of adjusting theheight of the pillar above the substrate by adjusting the anchor boltsbefore pouring the concrete.
 11. The method of constructing a wall asdefined in claim 9 wherein pillar rests on a plurality of adjustableanchor bolts mounted to the bottom of the pillar, said mounting boltseach having a foot, said feet resting on top of the substrate, andfurther including the step of adjusting the height of the pillar abovethe substrate by adjusting the anchor bolts before pouring the concrete.